Today (11 February 2021), They discussed issues related to Euro-Atlantic security, including the Alliance’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, developments in the Western Balkans, resilience against hybrid and cyber attacks, and the NATO 2030 initiative to strengthen the Alliance, as part of preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in Brussels.
The Secretary General thanked North Macedonia for its contributions since it became NATO’s 30th member less than one year ago. “I welcome North Macedonia’s steady contributions to our collective security, including through your troop-deployments in our Resolute Support and KFOR missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo and the NATO Mission in Iraq,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “I also welcome North Macedonia’s donation to the NATO Pandemic Trust Fund, which we established in response to the continued challenges posed by the Coronavirus crisis, ” he added. North Macedonia also benefits from NATO support to fight COVID-19, recently receiving pulmonary ventilators from Slovakia. The donation was coordinated by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre as part of the NATO COVID-19 assistance package for North Macedonia. Other medical equipment will be delivered to North Macedonia in the coming weeks from NATO’s Pandemic Response Trust Fund.
Today, the NATO Secretary also held a phone call with the Defence Minister of North Macedonia, Radmila Shekerinska.